Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The End.

click the image for pictures

It would have been a sin to start anywhere but The Swamp for our last ride. Joe and staff have always been very accommodating for our little club, and this ride was no different. They were at capacity within thirty minutes of my arrival, and I was out of spoke cards well before that.

We rode a very familiar route that took us across the Sandifur Bridge, up to Broadway and back over to the park where it became abundantly clear to me that there were a shit ton of riders. From there we headed to our destination. Admittedly, not our first choice or our second. Hell, it wasn't even our third, but it was the best place by far to have ended up.

I needed a lot of help to find a destination. I teamed up with Lifetime Member For Life, Patrick of Platform Booking to help me own like a boss the logistics of housing that many people. Without going into the details of our epic plans of an enormous venue with three or more bands, let's just say that the solution was what we should have been trying for all along. It worked out perfectly, and helped some old friends along the way. You should ask Patrick what a pain in the ass this was. I'm pretty sure he's never speaking to me again.

Our destination: Overbluff Cellars. These guys went to a ton of trouble to make our visit as fun as possible. I could not have asked for a single thing to be different. Had I known they were even on the map, I'm sure it would have been the first place to consider.

Our entertainment: Red Cloud from Eugene. One of the members has been a long time friend of mine. We met at a St. Louis FBC many years ago, and he was at the StL Fiasco where we celebrated my leaving for Spokane. It was amazing that our schedules would allow them to be here for this one. Thanks for some great rock and roll. I will visit you in Eugene real soon (foreshadowing).

Our special guests: FBC Sandpoint. A contingency representing FBC Sandpoint came along for the ride. They mentioned earlier in the evening that they had a special presentation. After I gave away all the presents, they come up on stage with a tiny, creepily baby-sized coffin full of rusty ass bike parts with silver paint pen condolences and congratulations written on it. Thanks? No, really, thanks guys. It means a lot to me that you came up here for the last FBC Spokane fiasco, and that you went to the trouble of making me a gift. I will do my damnedest to find a place to display it that won't frighten the neighbors. I should probably remove it from the front porch. I 'm going to try to make it to Sandpoint to ride your Full Moon Fiasco.

For a final fiasco, that was outstanding. All the riders did their part to try to contain the peloton to prevent it from getting out of hand, no one complained loud enough for me to hear them at the front, so that was great. And only a handful of rabbits off the front fell for my false directions. All in all I say that it was a success, and a hands down record turnout.

400+ riders; Clear and 62º

You guys got some great gifts, and it was all thanks to these people and businesses that donated their time and products to the FBC Spokane.

You're still here.
Before I go, there is something that I would like to clear up. The Inlander article said that I am not handing over The FBC Spokane to a successor because I don't want to be associated with something that fails. On its own, that makes me sound like a dick, that may have been their intention, and there are a handful of you that have no problem believing I am indeed a dick. I also had to contact and convince them to do the story in the first place, so it kind of stung a bit when I read that.

Sure I did say it, but I said a lot of shit about why I am stopping and why I am not handing over the FBC. I said I would like to concentrate on my family that has supported my efforts toward the bike club for years. I said it would be a disservice to the next bike club organizer to have to do it the same way I did it. I may have even mentioned that it's bloody expensive. I'm pretty sure I didn't only say that one thing.

I worked really hard to put this thing together over the past six years, and yes I wouldn't want to watch it go down the toilet in some less than mediocre version of the FBC, but at the same time I don't want the credit for their imaginative new idea either.

The FBC had its faults, but I wanted to do something different. I want the next organized bike ride to be different. Don't do it my way, do it the way you want it done.

Thanks to each and every one of you Lifetime Members For Life who have made my time here an enjoyable experience. Thank you to all the places we've visited. Some unconventional, and some that were not so eager to see us ever, ever again. Thanks to the local and not so local friends of the FBC Spokane that have donated their time and merchandise to see it go to some good people and great friends. I wish I could have said all that during the ride without crying in my beer.

We celebrated our 100th Full Moon in STL and when Lee stepped down, we still met every Full Moon at the same spot and rode bikes. It seems contradicting to stop riding as the FBC because an "organizer" stepped down. It's the Fucking Bike Club. I'm not sure how Spokane rolls, but I thought you just needed bikes and friends, old and new. I hope this club didn't really die.STL FBC LTMFL

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